Spring Salad from "Plenty More"

In my last post, I talked about the importance of eating nourishing and satisfying - particularly when life speeds up its pace on you. If that dish, the Rice Noodles with Green Onions and Edamame was step in the right direction, this dish, is ALL IN.

You can just tell from the abundance of green that it is packed full of amazing nutrients and the beautiful bounty that the warmer weather provides. Technically called a 'Spring' salad (and I did happen to make this before the official kick off to Summer), the recipe highlights vegetables at the peak of their freshness.

• Asparagus: In Season February to June - peak month: April
• Spinach: Available all year round but at its peak in Spring: April-June
• Fava Beans: Late Spring - Summer
• Green Beans: Available year round but peak in May-September

For those of you less familiar with fava beans, they are odd looking and incredibly deceiving in size. They probably think it is funny how many layers they make us humans peel off in order to get to the true "meat" of the bean.

Don't try biting into that large bean - you will forever dislike this beautiful produce.

Even if you try eating the beans shown above, you won't be very happy as you'll quickly find it difficult to swallow the casing that covers the final bean product. It's like a sunflower seed, they are horrible if you try to eat the shell. But the seed naturally slips out from the shell (if you do it right) so you can then enjoy the small but satisfying seed. Same story here with these favas. Trust me, there is true deliciousness if you have the patience to peel the layers.

Blanching the favas aids the separation of the casing from the bean. Here you see the final product, mixed in with some edamame. Looks like the size of the favas were deceiving to me as well as I didn't pick up enough! (Note: edamame was a fabulous addition).

Spring Salad
p. 28 in Plenty More
serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

• 10 asparagus spears (12 oz/350 g - or 1 bunch), trimmed and each spear sliced on a sharp diagonal into 3 or 4 thin pieces
• 7 oz/200 g haricots verts (or green beans), trimmed 
• 2 3/4 cups/300 g shelled fresh or frozen fava beans (note: I used half fava half edamame)
• 1 2/3 cups/50 g baby spinach leaves
• 1 banana shallot, or 2 regular shallots, very thinly sliced (1/2 cup/50 g)
• 1 red chile, finely diced
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp/10 g mixed black and white sesame seeds, toasted
• 1 tsp nigella seeds (I couldn't find those so used cumin seeds)
• salt

Directions:

1. Bring a large pan of water to a boil, add the asparagus, and blanch for 3 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the asparagus to a bowl of ice-cold water. Add the haricots verts to the boiling water and blanch for 5 minutes. Use the slotted spoon to transfer them to the bowl with the asparagus, drain both, and then set aside to dry. Add the fava bans to the boiling water and blanch for 2 minutes. Drain, refresh under cold water, and then remove and discard the skins by pressing each bean gently between your finger and thumb.
2. Place both beans and the asparagus in a large bowl. Add the spinach, shallot, chile, oils, lemon juice, sesame seeds, nigella seeds, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, stir gently and serve at once.

I love leftovers! Though I have to say, this salad, because it is dressed, is best fresh!